Why are you anxious about your clothes?
“God covers Himself in ‘perfect, blessed poverty'” –
Rembrandt’s “Man in an Oriental Costume”
We tend to overlook a question like this because of the array of the other questions that are posed by our Lord in this series in Matthew’s 5th, 6th, and 7th chapters.
Why are we worried about our clothes? It is safe to say that billions of dollars are spent on clothes every year ($1750 per adult according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012) and at least hundreds of millions of dollars on clothing advertising.
As such, this question struck me as particularly relevant, since I tend not to worry too much about fashion (just ask the girls in my family). And so I wondered whether I do worry about my clothing:
· Is my clothing adequate?
· Does my clothing fit well?
· Is my clothing clean?
· What do people think about what I wear? – which is related, and so on.
Tunic of Thomas a’Kempis
And then, I have my favorite pieces of clothing. Some are just plain old comfortable. Other pieces have memories attached to the item. For example, as a veteran, I tend to not let go of old uniforms. Still other pieces of cloth evoke feelings of power (e.g., power ties) or prestige (e.g. doctoral collars and robes).
Thomas a’Kempis had this tunic, which he wore and patched and wore and patched. His poverty was visible, not as a badge of honor, but as a way to imitate Christ.
But by-golly, just when I thought I had this one answered, I found that I probably consider clothing more than I acknowledged. Sometimes, we hide behind our clothing, don’t we?
And our Lord picks this question, out of all the other questions, and fits it into the rest of His litany of questions. In backing up just a bit, you’ll recall that He first mentions clothing in Mt 6:25 –“Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” So now is the second time Jesus mentions clothing. And in the next verse, He will mention clothing yet again in a summary, rhetorical question “If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will He not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?” Mt 6:30.
Why so much focus here? Our Lord is trying to get us to question our worrying ways and get us to walk in faith. We worry about these necessities excessively, instead of trusting Him for provision. It’s not that we should walk about in rags, or dress shabbily. Rather, it’s that we can make do with what God gives us. He sees us for who we are, regardless of how dressed up we make ourselves.
The filter that our Lord uses is that of His Passion. As Hans Urs Von Balthasar says in his book on Meditation: “Everything [Jesus] says is, after all, spoken in view of the Passion and leads up to it.”
In the Passion narrative, Jesus is stripped of His clothing. Most Crucifixion scenes show Jesus covered with some sort of loin cloth. However, and not to be crude, but it is most likely that the Crucified Christ was entirely stripped bare by the Romans in order to maximize His humiliation.
As Von Balthasar mentions later in the same passage, God covers Himself in ”perfect, blessed poverty, since none of the Divine Persons (of the Trinity) wants anything for Himself, but has everything – the whole Godhead – only in surrendering to the Others (otherwise we would have three gods, side by side!).2”
As imitators of Christ, we need to trust, not worry. We need to cover ourselves in blessed poverty. As we grow closer to Christ letting the material things go will help us on our journey: We need to be stripped of our sins, our comforts, our symbols of power and prestige. As we become more Christ-like, we will pay less attention to our outward appearance, and our physical needs, and surrender this all to Him as an act of faith. Bare-naked faith.
One final thought: Sometime soon, go through your abundance of clothing and make some donations. Be sure to include some items you’ve been holding onto over the years. Do this in a prayerful way, in thanksgiving to Almighty God for His generosity. You’ll do some good for others, and for yourself. Similarly, let’s try to dress-down a notch and see if anyone notices. My guess is that no one will notice. Meanwhile, look for Christ to wink and smile at you and know that you’ve answered His question.